Toy.



D. P. CLARK & G. E. BLACK.

.TOY.

APPLICATION FILED'MARJI, 1914.

Patented Feb. 16,1915.

2 SHEETS-SHEET 2.

Suva/whom;

abbomugg} m mw h ments in Toys, of which the following is a;

. may be controlled by the child or other op! UNITED STATES PATENT clarion.-

m P. CLARK AND CHARLES F. 31.11011, 01 DAYTON, 01110; sen) BLACK ASSIGNOB T0 SAID CLARK.

roar.

Specification of Letters Ifat'entl Patented Feb, 16, 1915,

Application filed March 11, 1914'. Serial nu saasse. j

To all whom it may "concern:

Be it known that we, DAvID P. CLARK and CHARLES F.- BLACK, citizens of the United States, residing at Dayton, in the county of Montgomery and State of Ohio, have invented certain new and useful Improvespecification, reference being had therein to the accompanying drawing. y

This invention relates to toys andmore particularly to toy structures which are built up from separate sections and which are of such a character that they may be provided with a movable motor driven car of some kind.

nected therewith a motor by means of which the car may be operated, and W111 also have means by which the movement of the car erator.

A further object of the invention is 'to;

provide a structure which can be readily converted from one form to anothera'nd to this end it is also an object of the invention" to provide a special jointior' connecting together, the separate sections or. structural.

members of which the structure as'a. whole is built up and for rigidly retaining these parts in their proper relat ve DOSIlSI OHS andfurther, to so construct the joint that it can be readily detached from the members when one end; Fig. 4 is a detail view of the con ne'cting j oint; F 5 is a detail View of one of the fastening devices Fig. 6 ls'a horizontal, sectional view taken, through one of the joints and 'portions'bf two. horiiont'al bars 'showingftwo' forms'of fastening 'device, Fig. 7 i a sectional viewtaken on the line :12 a; of Fig. 1,11ooking in the direction of the arrows and showing the motor in sect1on;-F1g. '8 is, a side elevation of the structure changed to imitate a bridge; and Fig.

9 is a transverse, sectionalview of'the bridge structure.

In these drawings we ha've illustrated one embodiment of the invention and have shownthe same as comprising a built-up structure which, while primarily d'esigned to be constructed inimitation of either a tower or a bridge, is susceptible of being modified in various ways and may be made imitative "of other devices. The tower structure, as here shown,compri'ses a series of uprightorlongitudinal members, each of l which 15 made up of a serles of sections 1, which sections, 'inthe present embodiment of the invention,:are in the form of bars of angle iron. The several sections of each longitudinal member are connected-one to the other in such a manner that theycan be readily disconnected and the arrangement of the parts varied. In the present instance, we have shown the sections as con nected one tothe other by means of a joint ,2 which comprises a plate bent at an angle, adapted to fit snugly'ag'ainst the outside of the angle bars and having'its edges bent inward, asshow'n at 3, to form guideways to receivethe ends of the angle bars and re tain the same against lateral displacement. The several upright members are connected one to the other by means of transverse members orcross bars 4 which may beconnected either directlyto the'angle bars or tothe joints 2, by meansof which the angle bars areconnected'one to'the other. present construction of the tower we have shown cross bars extending not only between the several jointsbutalso connected with the angle bars between the joints-girlie manner of connecting the cross bars with the joints is similar to that byrmeans of which the joints are connected with the angle bars. The angular plates comprising the-"joints are-"provided withlaterally ex- 7 tending portionsb having theirends turned.

inward, as 'shown at' 6, to receive thread- In the i i 'of the angle bars or joints relatively to the cross bars. Preferably both the'cross bars and the joints, orthe angle bars, with which they are to be connected, are provided with;-

openings 7 adapted to receive suitable fastening' devices. A very simple form of fastening device is shown at 8 in Fig. 6 and comprises a head having two substantially parallel legs bowed outwardly in opposite directionsat points slightly removed from the head and having'their outer ends arranged "close together to facilitate the entrance of the same into the openings; When one of these fastening devices is forced through the openings in cross bar and the part to which it is to be connected the bowed portions of the lugs will be forced inward until they have cleared the edges of the openings, when theywill spring outward and thus retain the fastener against dis-. placement until force is applied thereto.;

There is very little tendency on the part of the cross bars to move laterally relatively to the jointsor the angle bars and, consewithdrawal. This, of course, requires the use of oblong openings in at least one of the bars or joints which are to be connected and while it is applicable to make any of the connections in the structure we have shown it in the drawings as used for connecting brackets 10, which receive the lower ends of the upright members, to a base 11 on which the tower as a whole is mounted.

The tower as at present constructed is rectangular in cross section and there are four upright members all tied together b the cross bars, 4, but it will beunderstoo that the number of upright members may be varied and the tower thus given different cross sectional shapes.

r The space within the tower forms a pas sage in which a car 12 may be moved after the manner of an elevator car. The car as here shown, is not mounted in tracks of any kind but has apertured lugs 13 forming guideways to receive cords or cables extendthere is little or no strain lon itu-' ing from the top to the bottom of the tower to guide the car in its movement. Movement is preferably imparted to the car by means of a motor which is here shown at 15 as an. inertia motor but it will be understood that other kinds of motors may be used if desired, although this particular motor is very efficient. T he motor here shown does not form a part of the present invention but is similar to that shown and described in Patent hid-1,054,339, granted to David P. Clark February 27th, 1913. This motor comprises an inertia wheel 16 mounted on a shaft 17 having pinions 18 on opposite sides of the inertia wheel, and the inertia wheel and'the shaft are capable of bodily movement to move the pinions into operative re- 'lation either with gearing 19 connected with a crank 20 or with gearing 21 connected with a pulley 22.. Bodily movement may be imparted to the inertia wheel by means of a lever 24 projecting beyond the casing which incloses the mechanism thereof. Mounted atthe top of the tower and preferably journaled in the uppermost cross bars 4 are two shafts 25having secured thereto pulleys 26 about which extend endless belts or cables 27, which belts or cables also extend about the pulley'of the motors The shafts 25 also have secured thereto pinions 28 and the cables are so arranged that the pinions will A third be rotated in the same direction. shaft 29 is rotatably mounted in the upper crossbars 4 between the shafts 25 and has.

one end mounted for lateral sliding movement as well as rotary movement. shaft 29 has a gear 30 arranged to be moved into mesh. with either ofthe pinions 28 or to be moved into a neutral position, free from both gears. A portion of this shaft 29 formsa drum about which is wound a cable 31, the free end of which is connected with the car 12. Inasmuch as the pinions 28 rotate in the same direction it is obvious that when the gear is in mesh with one of these pinions the cable 31 will be wound about the drum or shaft and when the gear is in mesh with the other pinion the cable will be unwound therefrom. The shifting of the gear into and out of mesh with the pinions is con- The trolled'by the end of the shaft which pro- 3 jects beyond the cross bar on which it is mounted and forms a handle, as indicated at 32.

It will be apparentfrom the foregoing description that in the operation of the de-, 1

vice the inertia wheel is first connected with the crank 20, which crank is operated to impart to the inertia wheel thedesired movement, after which the inertia wheel is shifted to connect it with the pulleys and these i pulleys are thereby set in operation, causing the cable to be wound or unwound from the shaft or drum 29. As the car approaches the limit of its movement inone direction the shaft is shifted to. reverse the movement of the drum and cause the car to move 'inthe opposite direction. By thus reversing the movement of the car as it approaches the upper or lower limits of itsmovement it can which are connected with the abutment forming members by a modified form of the joint 2, as shown at 34, this modified form of the joint having a downwardly extending arm to receive the upper ends of the upwardly extending abutment members.

Other sections of the angle bars are attached in a similar'manner to the opposite end of the horizontal structure to form abutments 33 for that end and, if desired, these abutments may be mounted upon a base35. In the bridge structure we also prefer to employ diagonal truss bars 36, which are s.e' cured to the main structure by removable fastening devices such for example as those shown at 8 and 9, removing one or more seetions of the longitudinal members at the top of the horizontal structure and at each end thereof and also the cross bars 4 which are connected to the removed sections, the top of the structure is reduced to aless length than the bottom and the ends of the side walls thereof are inclined after the manner of a bridge. Suitable tracks 43 are mounted upon the cross bars 4 extending between the two lower longitudinal members and mounted upon each track is a car 37 connected one to the other by means of a cable 38 which passes about a pulley or guide 39 and each connected at its front end by cables 40 with the pulleys 26 of the shafts 25. The controlling mechanism for the car, including these shafts, is preferably mounted upon the abutment, 33, at one end of the bridge, this .being accomplished by removing the cross bars 4 which carry this controlling mechanism from the top of the tower and placing the same in position at the top of the abutment sections 33. A single endless belt 41 connects the pulley 22 of the motor with the drum of the shaft 29. Thus, it will be noted 3 that the operation of the controlling members is just reversed, the power being applied to the shaft 29 and distributed to the two cars by the pulleys 26 according to the 7 ion 28.

position of the gear 3'0 relatively to the pin- Vhile we have shownand described one embodiment of our. invention itwillbe un dersto'ocl that this has been chosenfor the purposes of illustration only and that we do not desire to be limited to .the details of construction shown and described, for obvi- 'ous modifications will occur to aperson skilled in the art. V v 1 Having thus fully described our invention, what we claim as'new and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is

1. 'A, toy structure imitative of a tower when placed vertically and'imitative of a bridge when placed horizontally, some parts thereof'being removable to vary the design somewhat when in one position and the other, means to cause a car to travel vertically when the toy is in tower-position and horizontally when in bridge-position, a motor, and operating devices driven thereby imam and adapted to move the car back and forth in the structure.

2. The combination, with a'toy structure having a passagewaymf a motor adapted to produce rotary motion for a limited period of' time, a car arranged to travel'back and forth in said passageway, and devices connecting the motor and car characterized by the quality of converting the rotary motion of the motorinto reciprocatory motion for the car. i i F 3. A toy structure comprising a series of longitudinal members connected one to the other to form a passageway between them, a car mounted to travel in said passageway, a motor mounted at one end of said passageway, a rotary drum, two pulleys connected respectively with the. car and the motor, pinions connected with said pulleys, and a gear connected with said drum and movable into mesh with either of said pinions, whereby said car may be caused to move alternatbly in opposite directions. 4. A toy structure comprising a plurality of longitudinal members, each member comprising a series of sections separately con- 7 nected one to the other, cross members detachably connected with said longitudinal members to connect the latter one to the other, whereby a portion of the longitudinal members on one side of said structure may be removed and placed beneath the other side thereof when the structure is in horizontal position to form supports therefor, a motor arranged at one end of said structure, a carmou'nted'to move lengthwise thereof,

cables connecting said motor with said car,

and a controlling device for causing said car to move alternately in opposite directions. 5. In a toy structure, a plurality of vertical members connected one with the other by cross members to form a tower, a motor pable of bodily movement to cause said gear to mesh with either of said pinions.

In testimony whereof, we afiix our signa- 15 tures in presence of two witnesses.

' DAVID P. CLARK.

CHARLES F. BLACK. Witnesses to signature of D. 1. Clark:

ARTHUR R. F LICK, Roar. P. COSLEY. Witnesses to signature of C. F. Black:

F. W. SCHAEFER, H. L. HAMMAKER. 

